THERE are moments when we all want niceness to triumph and this season brings about lots of those moments.

People who we know don't really deserve our affection get Christmas cards and seasonal smiles while best intentions prevail. At home and at work, we gradually shift personas throughout November so that by December we're ready to be pleasant, even at work.

Employee groups go out together, requests for help get listened to, emails are more considered, minds are open to reasonable explanations and work plans for next year carry so much more potential than the plans arranged this time last year turned out to be worthy of.

Employers give bonuses and toast their staff, send out smiley emails and say thank you; the patterns of cordiality we live by throughout the year get usurped. It's institutionalised good will time again, otherwise known as Christmas.

It all changes terribly after the Stephen's Day downer though, and back we go to our old reliable moans and groans, to the mess of real life without many illusions and not a bank holiday in sight for 10 weeks.

And who can afford that much needed holiday?

Those cold new year months needn't be so bad though. There's no such thing as the perfect new year but there's something happening which might just chip away at the most striking trend in the new Ireland winter calendar to combat the post-Christmas blues.

The escalation in demand for mini breaks and short stay trips to soak up out of season rays, recharge batteries and restore bonhomie might just be replaced by a far more effective workplace phenomenon, funded by employers.

Winter breaks have become so popular that many organisations have changed their schedules so as to accommodate temporary and seasonal workers for the December to February period, instead of merely relying on the student population the summer months set free.

But if people can be kept happy and healthy while staying at home . . . even though the sun doesn't shine and the rain falls heavily day in, day out . . . and employers can keep their workplaces intact and at full staff levels, everyone's winning.

The pre-Christmas good mood then remains throughout the year by using technology and the power of suggestion. Is this for real?

Well, no. But it's virtually happeningf Using a small space within the workplace, warm and sunny scenes can mingle with luxury yachts, stunning scenery and soothing massage to bring holiday delights to everyone at work throughout the year.

Even in the midlands, the soothing sound of sea lapping can be an everyday occurrence as burgeoning research into the power of the virtual vacation is showing increasingly positive results.

A small phone booth appears on the fourth floor.

People surreptitiously slink in with that 'nobody's looking' expression. The door closes over. Strange sounds can be deciphered but nothing clear.

Blue flashing light now and then, some humming, even. Is it a cult of mini people infiltrating Irish workplaces?

Or just the beginning of a new way of using technology to improve workplace morale.

According to Iowa State University researchers, relaxation stations where employees can indulge in simulations about holiday-like experiences really bring about results.

"By engaging the senses with pleasant stimuli like sweet scents, a massage pad or chair, relaxing sounds, uplifting texts and pleasant imagery, employers can incorporate a pleasurable leisure experience for workers" according to the lead researcher into the workplace virtual vacation, whose paper on the subject was among those presented to the committee at last month's Occupational Health Psychology summit in Dublin Castle.

Ms Connors didn't refer to binge drinking or fist fighting, sun burn or airport chaos in her study, but does claim that pleasures offered in any pod should be designed for the group being targeted.

There's already lots of research which reliably shows a link between how people feel at work with how they perform, so it's not new to suggest that an increasingly happy or satisfied mood will result in people being nicer to each other.

The same research also shows a strong link between work satisfaction and wellbeing, and between wellbeing and output and productivity.

But this novel innovation goes further. It's not just a matter of making people 'think nice thoughts' and all the nasty antics of office politics and wage slavery will disappear. We've all tried that.

It's not working.

This approach contends that the fantasy stuff is too reliant on thought and mental processing, too intentional and therefore not hitting the spot.

Bringing the holiday-like environment into the workplace rests on the notion that bypassing the cold, hard intellect is the secret to a relaxed workforce, even though, for many of the tasks required of them, people have to engage their brain.

The thinking is that even those who don't 'believe' in the power of the senses; even those who would resist ever entering into the holi-pods, the experience would still bring benefits. The senses can be touched, the theory goes, whether the brain buys into it or not.

You hear Billy Joel; you hate him but your feet start tapping and you're swaying like a monkey, reminded of that summer in '81 when. . .

you start smiling. It's annoying, but unavoidable. Pleasures have their own memory, even if we would rather forget them.

Using a desktop computer, researchers in Cognitive Science at Duke University in the US created virtual tours of art galleries, sunny beach walks, and green and lush rural treks as a distraction intervention to alleviate chemotherapy-related distress in a cancer hospital.

The results were conclusive and positive in a random sample-controlled study.

Not only was psychological distress reduced for those exposed to their choice of pleasurable stimulation, but physical symptoms also appeared reduced compared to the control group.

On-going research at the University of Washington Human Interface Technology Laboratory is groundbreaking. Their findings from recent studies show virtual reality can be used as a distraction and can be tailored to the situation. For burn victims, for instance, ski holiday images were used successfully.

For people disabled by traumatic injury, virtual programmes including safaris, mountain climbing and white water rafting had positive counter-balancing effects.

For those who prefer their adventures to involve a sun lounge and good book, the idea would be to have the sound of lapping water, (maybe some screaming children in the background just for authenticity! ? ) a picture of what one would see from the level of a sun lounge, temperature controlled booth and , of course, the actual book.

This is the ideal way to tackle the Himalayas and tame the Serengeti without breaking sweat; its ecofriendly, non toxic and better for your skin, too.

Pleasure and pain are closely related, so the pleasure chosen for the virtual pod should match the pain associated with the population being exposed.

So for Irish workers, the best suggestions for the long winter post-Christmas blues are sunny scenes, open spaces, long empty days and a virtual camera showing the virtual boss back at work virtually run off his/her feet.